On Veterans Day

The ways we pluck the notes
of patriotic songs
from the lips of the fallen

hits me like all the cold captured
in November granite, rough and frozen
by time and lack of light.

These few who gather,melt with each tear,
together we laud those who have given everything,
ashamed of ourselves
for not doing as much
as we could.

We shuffle. We can't make eye contact.
We are silent because there are no words
to make up for all these losses.


Let me be precise.

We will never repay
the debt owed here.

There is no compensation
for all this blood.